


500 Days of Ghost Hunting

by ElasticElla



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: (not with main characters), Background Case, Domestic Fluff, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, M/M, Negative Space, Slow Burn, brief ryan/others, mentioned jen/sara, shyanexchange2k18, shyanwritingevents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-03 04:31:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15811416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticElla/pseuds/ElasticElla
Summary: "Our resident skeptic agreed to do a long term investigation if Buzzfeed ever covered the costs and found a house close enough to GhoulQ. The Taylor House,” Ryan spins his phone around to the blue two story house, “is our new home for the next eighteen months.”“Which for all you keeping track at home, is not five hundred days-”“Yeah, it’s more whatever this sounds better.”





	500 Days of Ghost Hunting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ghoulwheeze (trek_locked)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/trek_locked/gifts).



> huge thank you to maria for a last minute read through, you angel <3

**Day 1**

“Dear internet, today is the day! It’s really happening, five hundred days of the ghoul boys coming at you.” 

Shane laughs, and Ryan turns his phone to him, “You guys are gonna be so bored.” 

Ryan shakes his head, and not even Shane’s cynicism can try to bring him down. “For anyone who doesn’t want to follow our daily descent into darkness-”

Shane snorts, muttering, “Everyone.” 

“-there will be a shorter special at the end of this project with all of the most compelling evidence.” 

“Like most of our videos, it’ll be ten minutes of theory and the rest of Ryan jumping at the wind.” 

Ryan’s lips twitch, “For those of you wondering why Shane’s so bitter this morning-”

“I am not-” 

“-or interrupting more than usual,” Ryan adds with a look that shuts him up. “It’s because our resident skeptic agreed to do a long term investigation if Buzzfeed ever covered the costs and found a house close enough to GhoulQ. The Taylor House,” Ryan spins his phone around to the blue two story house, “is our new home for the next eighteen months.” 

“Which for all you keeping track at home, is _not_ five hundred days-”

“Yeah, it’s more whatever this sounds better.” 

Shane grins, “Like the movie?” 

“Sure,” Ryan says, zooming in on the ominous doorway. 

Shane snickers, “Does that mean by the end it’ll be obvious that you were never in love with the Taylor House at all, that you projected the ghosts you wanted and you’ll just move onto another house with a similar name and start the cycle all over again?” 

“The fuck?” 

Shane scratches the back of his neck, “…I take it you haven’t seen 500 Days of Summer then.” 

“No.” 

“Right.” Shane swallows, looking at the house again, saying, “We got ourselves a fixer-upper.” Which is a very gentle description considering the first floor looks like it might collapse in on itself. It did pass a housing inspection, and Ryan’s beginning to wonder if bribery was involved. “But I’m excited for our first home, baby.” 

Ryan laughs, turning the camera to Jen’s pick-up truck that their stuff is haphazardly piled in. “Alright we gotta get all this stuff inside, tune in tomorrow for the first tour of the house!” 

“I still can’t believe Buzzfeed paid the lease, how much was it?” Shane asks. 

Ryan snorts, “That is so getting edited out. It was a dollar like, shit, um, that other house the lady kept trying to sell?” 

“So this house will definitely have ghosts then?” 

His eyes narrow at Shane’s teasing grin, “Oh just you wait Madej. You’re going to be eating those words.” 

“Sure. We have two hours before Jen needs her truck back, let’s do this.”

**Day 2**

“Morning internet!” Ryan pans his phone around the living room, “As you can see while we brought in all the boxes yesterday we haven’t actually unpacked.” There’s an empty pizza box and six pack to blame, but they don’t need to know that. 

“Anyways, I thought a tour before we put all of our stuff out would be fun so you can get a feel for the place. Shane is currently grocery shopping, and even though it’s a Tuesday we don’t have to go into the office until next Monday so we can set up here.” Ryan does his best deranged cackle, but it feels awkward alone. Or maybe it’s flat because he couldn’t sleep last night, listening to every creak with a speeding pulse. “So this is the living room, nothing’s been reported here- yet!”

He spins the camera around, “And that door goes to the porch and outside world. Which, I still think is weird? Shane doesn’t, but what does he know about housing layouts right?” 

“To the left is our dining room and kitchen,” Ryan says, barely leaning into the space. There’s tons of breakables in these boxes and not much to see anyways. He stands up straight, bringing the camera around, “There’s the bathroom, and get ready for Shane’s favorite room.” 

Ryan walks into the half-unpacked library, “Nerd paradise amirite?” 

He carefully steps through, haphazard stacks of books all over the floor. “And out the screen door is our little reading nook. There’s a nook on the other side too, but this one came with couches so.” 

“And the stairs are here. Tomorrow you guys will see so much of the basement, we won’t bother with that now.” 

It has nothing to do with the fact that he’s alone in the house and that’s where almost all the supernatural activity has been reported. Nope, nothing. 

“Up, up and away,” he says, climbing the stairs. “Fun fact about the Taylor House, no one has lived here for more than seven months since the 60’s. The ghoul boys, soon to be breakin’ records.” 

“So we have the main hallway here, we really should get some paintings or something. On the left side we have a study, a storage room, a closet, and bathroom. To the right we have a guest room, and,” he says, walking into the last room, “the only unpacked room! Our bedroom.” 

The camera pans over the two queens, one clearly unmade. Ryan winces, “That’s uh Shane’s messy bed with the ghost sheets, yup.” (The sheets had been a gift from Shane last year, the Casper print too cute to not use.) 

“So yeah, tune in tomorrow and watch me regret my life’s decisions! Ha, kidding, or am I?”

**Day 3**

“Okay internet, today I am doing the thing,” Ryan says with a gusty exhale. “I know this won’t go well, but ghoul hunting is serious business.” 

Shane’s laughter is faint, but Ryan’s sure the camera picks it up, rolling his eyes. “Ahem, so today I’ll be doing a full day livestream in the basement. And since you all haven’t seen it yet…”

He tries to keep the camera pretty steady as he goes downstairs, and is pretty sure he fails miserably. “Since the most activity was about the basement, we’re keeping it as open as possible.” 

“Maybe the ghostie likes playing with stuff Ryan,” Shane says. 

“Yeah, we’ll bring stuff down here sometimes. Today is the control day without toys. Anyways, as you can see the laundry machines are here.” Shane gives a jaunty wave as he stuffs the washer full with more flannel than any one person should own. 

“And the creepy boiler, other than that, nada,” Ryan says, panning over the emptiness. 

He sits in the center, linking up the standing camera so he doesn’t have to hold his phone all day. “And the twelve hours starts now, three to three ghouligans.” 

“Oh yeah, no pee breaks, a hundred percent Bergara coming your way internet,” Shane says. 

“Dude, gross.”

“That bittersweet experience you’ve all been hoping for-”

“Okay and you’ve taken it too far. Chime off if you think Shane should stick around the twelve hours,” Ryan says, sticking his tongue out at the end. 

“Mhmm, I’d love to but you wanted the furniture set up. Unless you wanna move the heavy objects? You do have the muscles.” 

“Nah, I wouldn’t wanna keep you from being the best handyman you can be.” 

“Oh you know how handy I can be,” Shane says with a theatrical wink. 

Ryan exhales a laugh, can’t help but think ordinarily they’d cut a joke like that. He knows how easily bits can spiral, and they’re not gonna turn into the try guys reenacting their own damn fanfiction. 

“-Ryan? The ghosts break you already?” 

His cheeks flush hot, “Shut up Shane.” 

“Yeah, yeah I’m going. Reminder to tweet #bergaraguitara!” 

“I’m not going-”

“He brought the guitar here!” Shane exclaims. 

“For therapeutic reasons!” 

“And isn’t therapy more fun with friends?” 

“What? That’s not a thing is it- no, that’s definitely not a thing,” Ryan says. 

“Or is it?” 

“Go do the furniture, Shane.” 

Shane laughs, tipping an imaginary hat, “I leave you to the ghouls and internets.” 

“Fuckin’ awful.” 

“Full of awe I am,” Shane agrees. 

“Get the fuck out,” Ryan says, can’t help an amused smile. 

Shane leaves with a wide grin, “I’ll come back if I hear high pitched screaming.” 

Ryan rolls his eyes, refrains from the words at the tip of his tongue- isn’t going to give Shane excuses to stay longer. Even if maybe he’ll want him back the moment any indistinct noises occur. _If_ he mentally corrects, _if_ such moments occur- they might not. It’s only the third night, maybe the ghosts aren’t worried about them yet. As the whole point is to prove more ghostly activity occurs with long term residents, he’s hoping for like month three activity- but still, night three is welcome. 

The first four hours are dull at best, the only noises he hears are clearly from Shane messing around upstairs. Since it’s still daytime, it’s peaceful. A little uncomfortable due to the cold floor, but as long as he seeps into a near-meditative state- thank you college- it passes easily. (He thinks back to James and Rie sitting with him, the three of them all holding hands and breathing slow. It was so peaceful- so very opposite how the three usually spent their time together in any of their beds.)

A bang jolts him out of his thoughts, and he gives a sheepish grin to the camera. “Right, that was Shane tripping upstairs. Those mile long legs get tangled easy.” 

_No._

Ryan screams. 

The voice doesn’t sound like his, and he isn’t sure where it originated from, isn’t sure _what_ it was-

Shane, bless him, runs downstairs and is at his side before his brain has finished processing what’s going on. 

“Hey, breathe, I’m here. Talk to me.”

Ryan looks around, the sun still setting, bits of light pouring inside and benign feeling. He licks his lips, “There was a voice.” 

“Already?” Shane says with a grin. “Guess we didn’t need the eighteen months after all.” 

Ryan snorts, “Yeah.” 

Shane grabs his laundry basket and sits beside him, “Lucky for you, I’m finished upstairs.” 

Ryan smiles, feels more secure than he should given the voice. “Now seems like a great time to remind viewers that this is a one time thing and I’m never ever doing it again.” 

Shane gives the camera a wry look, “Yeah, we’re here for a while, we’ll see about that.” 

“Shut it,” Ryan says, glancing over at him. Shane’s folding and Ryan shakes his head, “How did you not do laundry before moving here?” 

Shane shrugs, “Forgot. It was quicker to pack this way.” 

They slip into a comfortable silence, and Ryan has to remind himself a few times not to break it- he doesn’t need irreversible proof of ghosts to be ruined by one of them talking over it. 

As the night passes, there’s a few sounds that Shane dismisses as the wind, a rat, and the house settling. Ryan’s planning on listening to the recording closely of course, marks down the times on his phone. The voice doesn’t return, and Ryan honestly isn’t sure if he’s more relieved or disappointed. 

At three am sharp, Shane says later to the internet and shuts the livestream off before Ryan can do anything besides wish their viewers a hasty good night.

**Day 4**

The next day, Ryan wakes up late, doesn’t start the day’s video until he can’t possibly sleep anymore, around two in the afternoon. It’s the first night, well morning, he’s actually slept in the house and it’s unfortunately similar to how he sleeps at home- a few hours all together, jumbled and not refreshing enough. There’s been muffled sounds downstairs for the last few hours, nothing loud enough to keep him from sleep but enough to keep him aware that Shane’s up. 

He turns his phone to himself, pajama clad and in glasses because he’s too lazy to put in contacts. “Good afternoon guys, welcome to day four of the Taylor House.” 

He pauses, mostly because he’s tired but the dramatic wait pays off when he catches Shane making noise. 

“Hear that internet?” Ryan asks. “That’s the sound of Shane being the little homemaker that could and fixing our home, one project at a time. Today we’re- and when I say we’re I mean Shane- is repainting the bathroom. I’ll be picking out a new shower curtain because the one we have is nasty,” he says. “Really, I’m not airing it in case the, I dunno townspeople, revolt at the sight of it and burn the house down.” 

He’s about to get up when he remembers he’s half naked- didn’t bother with boxers last night after filming and kicked off his pajama pants, overheating late morning. “Er- right, cut to commercial.” 

.

Ryan starts filming again hours later, in the downstairs bathroom. He’s already put up the new shower curtain and Shane finished repainting the room, a nice soft cream that’s still wet. (The previous mustard yellow-green with splotches of dry wall was ridiculously terrible and can still be seen behind the toilet. Not that Ryan’s going to point that out now and get dragged into repainting.) 

“Tomorrow we’ll be doing a shorter livestream in the basement. All the house cameras are set up, so if any ghoul happens to be around…” Ryan drifts off with a grin, oh yeah- they’re gonna catch something.

**Day 5**

“Happy Friday internet! Shane is a traitor and doing family stuff, so there won’t be a livestream tonight. Instead I’m gonna make chocolate chip cookies! Which uh, hopefully will go better than the cheesy bread incident.” 

Ryan already has the pans out, covered in parchment paper, and a tub of cookie dough. He grabs a spoon and he’s pretty sure he has everything. 

“Alright oven going on now,” he says walking over. “And I’m gonna check inside first. Once my brother put a plate of brownies _back_ in the oven for some reason, and the whole thing melted.” 

“Whew, empty,” he adds, shutting the door and turning it on. 

“This next part’s gonna be boring,” Ryan says, washing his hands again. “Definitely going to speed it up before posting, ten times speed? Maybe faster, whatever condenses set up to like fifteen seconds.”

With that in mind, he doesn’t bother talking to the camera while doling out the cookie dough. Vlogging is harder without Shane- well not harder per se, there’s more pressure to be unscripted funny, and he likes his scripts dammit. 

Around two hours later, the six batches of cookies are cooling on the counter and Ryan’s frowning at them. The first batch came out perfectly, the second as well, but then the third was burnt, the fourth good, the fifth overcooked, and the sixth under. 

As each batch went in for exactly fourteen minutes, he doesn’t know why the fuck they didn’t come out the same. He looks around the kitchen suspiciously, and later he’ll examine the footage very closely. 

“We didn’t burn the house down, so that’s a thrilling success, tune in next week where we cook a ghost.” Ryan laughs, “Cooking- ‘cause it’d float out, okay until tomorrow!”

**Day 6**

Once both of them are settled in the basement, Ryan turns the livestream on. “Welcome to the second live ghoul hunting night.”

“Three hours internet, get your questions in now.” 

“So some of you commented on the other videos, asking if there were cameras everywhere or only in the main rooms,” Ryan says. “We have two cameras per room, every room except the bathrooms.” 

Shane snickers, “If we hit two million subs, I’ll release the secret Ryan showering footage.” 

Ryan snorts, “You don’t wanna show your hot daga fans how you create their show?” 

Grinning, Shane answers, “You heard it here folks- Ryan bringing the hot daga into the main show on his own!” 

“Dammit,” Ryan mutters, stupid live recording. 

“Shawna Kreiss wants to know if you found anything on the kitchen cameras or if you’re a bad cook. #shaniacs #stillloveyouryan.” Shane pauses, “I’ll have you know those cookies are delicious. In fact,” Shane reaches behind himself to reveal a half-full tupperware, “I’ve brought some along for tonight’s ghoul finding mission.” 

“Hah, take that Shawna!” 

“A burn indeed,” Shane says with a wink, “much like a certain batch that was disposed of.” 

Ryan clears his throat, “Anyways, we’re gonna try and communicate with our ghost now. For the last hour, we’ll answer questions.” 

“Our ghost,” Shane echoes, laughter bellying his words. 

“Hello, how is our ghost today?” 

There’s a few minutes of silence, and Ryan tries again, “We finished unpacking. We’re here for good, won’t be leaving after a few measly months- any reaction to that?” 

A few more minutes pass, and Ryan tries, “Do you miss having toys down here? Tell us what to bring you.” 

There’s a beat of silence, and then a loud crunch that Ryan jumps at. He looks over, and Shane’s eating a cookie. 

“Dammit Shane!” 

Shane shrugs, breaks off a piece. “Here ghostie, ghostie.” 

Ryan facepalms, “Why would-”

The piece tumbles out of Shane’s hand, crumbling on the cement floor, and Ryan’s eyes go wide. 

“Wha- no. That was an accident, I must have twitched or something.” 

“Okay.” 

After that nothing happens with any of the cookies, but Ryan feels like he’s watching the clock, waiting to examine that moment slowed down. It might not be solid enough proof to convince Shane, but he’s already sure he’ll only be doing laundry in the daytime. 

His butt is cold and fuck, he forgot to bring a rug or pillow down here.

**Day 7**

“Morning everyone!” 

Shane toasts a piece of toast to the camera, “Sunday brunch baby.” 

“I have some exciting footage from last night-”

“I maintain that I unknowingly moved in a small way that wasn’t caught on camera causing the cookie to fall,” Shane interrupts, words rushing out in a breath. 

Ryan grins, “As you may be able to tell, someone is feeling anxious about their world view _crumbling_.” 

Shane snorts, “Chippin’ away at it, one bite at a time.” 

“If you give a ghost a cookie.” 

Shane laughs long enough that Ryan’s laughing too, minutes before he’s able to take a breath and say, “No really, we should do that.” 

“Give the ghost a cookie?” Shane asks. 

“Write a kid’s book about if ghosts are real. Most of those have clear endings but…” 

“No! I mean yes- that’s why it’d be great! Get kids questioning stuff- start small with ghosts and then wham, the government. Let’s do it.”

“Okay, yeah. We’re gonna have to cut all this out then.”

“Yup!” 

“Alright, brunch then editing.”

**Day 8**

“Week one in the Taylor House is officially over, we survived it! I’m even sleeping like normal, which was needed since I had work today. Anyways, last night we watched 500 Days of Summer due to all your comments and I was not impressed. Moreover this house is the real deal and I’m regretting the series’ title.”

Ryan pauses, glancing over to Shane who’s grinning like a madman while typing away on his laptop. 

“And these videos are obviously being posted in order, so _very_ different.” 

“Whatever you say dear,” Shane says. “I’m sure the Trenton House will be lovely too.” 

“What-? Oh, I see what you did there. But as I said, a false analogy.” 

Shane snickers, “So serious. Like, a false god.” 

“A false idol to praise in skepticism,” Ryan adds.

“Are you saying you want a golden calf in the house? I can make that happen.” 

Ryan slaps his knee, laughing. “Yeah sure, if you wanna buy fancy décor go for it.” 

Shane winks to the camera, “We’re gonna come back to this moment later.” 

“I still resent being compared to Levitt’s character.” 

“Because he never learns? Or because he ignores all the warning signs that it isn’t meant to be from the start?”

“Wow, harsh,” Ryan says, fighting to keep a smile away. 

“Fine, sorry- what did you mean?” 

“Nope, I don’t think I should tell you.” 

“Okay.” 

Ryan blinks, “What.” Shane never gives up so easily, something-

There’s a loud crunch as Shane bites into a cookie, speaking through the bite, crumbs spraying everywhere, “I’ll ‘ust keff eatin’.” 

“Ey!” Ryan shouts, going for the cookies- it feels like he’s only eaten four of them and somehow they’re down to the last batch already.

**Day 10**

“Good afternoon ghouligans. Y’know what the nice thing about living in a house full of cameras is? I’ll know who had the last cookie!” Ryan finishes with a yell.

Shane cackles from the library, and Ryan ignores it. 

“And then earlier he had the audacity to blame our ghost that he doesn’t believe in.” Ryan clears his throat, “So, mini-livestream of me recovering the footage of Shane totally eating the last cookie.” 

“You’ll never prove anything! It’s in the name baby!” Shane calls out from the library, and if Ryan could throw a couch pillow around the corner and hit him, he so would. 

Ryan pulls up the kitchen camera feed on his laptop, forwarding it to last night at ten pm. “Alright this is when I went upstairs, and Shane was only down here a little longer.” 

He fast forwards through a few minutes, and then a figure appears and he slows down to half speed. “Aha! There’s Shane, he’s going closer and-” 

The feed cuts out then, the screen going black. 

“What the fuck. What the fuck.” His own phone dies and Ryan drops it, “SHANE!”

**Day 11**

“Hey everyone, quick update. So yesterday’s livestream ended unexpectedly when my battery died. Then our house’s electricity went out, but luckily the power company came and fixed the wires this morning. 

“We’re not sure why the cameras went out on the 17th. Checking the footage, it was all cameras on the first floor. There are also a few other instances of glitching, but none sync up like that. I um, I’m feeling pretty nervous about this. But I want solid evidence before we leave, and I’m not going to let being a little afraid ruin our project.” 

It wasn’t a vicious or malicious move by the ghost, he just needs to keep reminding himself of that. 

Ryan licks his lips, “We’re gonna run a few tests on our cameras and make sure they’re operating properly. Once that’s set, we’ll be doing a live spirit box session. So yeah, until next time, peace.”

**Day 14**

“Hey internet! End of week two, and as we said last night we’re ready to spirit box!” 

Shane snickers, “Spirit boxing, like shadow boxing, but with more soul and incomprehensible screaming.” 

“Yeah, yeah, alright here we go,” Ryan says flipping it on. 

Shane winces, and okay maybe part of the reason Ryan loves using the spirit box so much is because of how much Shane obviously despises it. 

“Can you tell us your name?” 

“Yeah, cookie stealing hooligan is quite the mouthful.” 

Ryan whacks Shane. 

The white noise breaks up, a deep medley of voices, “-bru I zam Flam-”

“Zam Flam, nice to meet you,” Shane says, can’t quite keep the mockery out of his voice. 

“FLAM” the spirit box booms. 

It goes completely silent then, and Ryan curses. “Dammit, I think the speakers are blown.” 

“Flam, like flan a delicious dessert?” 

Ryan sighs, “No, like Flemming the owners from the 1930s.” 

“Alright, whaddya say we end the stream and go out. I’ll buy you a brand new spirit box.” 

Ryan grins wide, “Hear that internet? Shane Madej is buying me a spirit box.” 

His cheeks go red as Ryan cackles, “Not because I think it’s good methodology. Purely as a replacement measure.” 

“Uh huh, sure big guy.” Ryan turns back to his phone, “We’ll do a new stream tomorrow?” 

Shane nudges him, “Ruining History filming.” 

“Right I spaced, Tuesday night we’ll do the stream. I’ll tweet the link before it starts. G’night internet!” Ryan says and they both wave.

**Day 18**

“Hey ghostbusters, so Ryan usually does all the camera stuff. But today I have a special surprise for him,” Shane says, turning the phone to hit the breakfast table. “And for posterity, I need Ryan’s reaction.

“Ryan! The internet’s waiting for you!”

There’s distant grumbling and a thump, a few moments later footsteps going across the house and downstairs. 

“Oooh, do I smell bacon?” Ryan hurries into the kitchen with a huge grin. “And waffles? Aw dude, you are the best.” 

“And there’s a little something above your plate,” Shane says, zooming in on the golden calf figurine before panning over to Ryan’s face.

“You fucking didn’t.” 

“I fucking did, meet Trenton.” 

Ryan snorts, giggling uncontrollably, “I- I want to hate it, but he’s so cute!” 

Shane turns the camera back to himself, “You saw it here first folks, tune in later for more yelling into the abyss.” 

“Dammit Shane, we’re doing a-” And Shane cuts the livestream before Ryan can say, ‘spirit box’. (Which by all rights _should_ mean they do like a seance or ouija board or something else tonight.)

**Day 20**

“Hey internet! You may notice we’re not at home,” Ryan says, spinning his phone around the laundromat. “Because our house is 100% most definitely haunted.” 

“Woah, slow down there,” Shane says. “There was an unfortunate event, the washer breaking, which is very understandable and normal for a model that old.” 

“Oh yeah? And everything that followed?” 

“Look, we can agree the basement flooding makes sense in a non-supernatural way yeah?” 

“Sure,” Ryan says. 

“So then the flooding killed the downstairs cameras, also normal-” 

“What about the footage Shane?” 

“A malfunction.” 

Ryan snorts, “I can’t wait to get home and post it. So before the footage cuts out, there’s a humanoid shadow-”

“A blob at best,” Shane interrupts. 

“-that rises from the broken washing machine.” 

“This was seconds before the camera goes dark, clearly it was messed up before then.” 

Ryan rolls his eyes, “The moment we’re home, you’ll see dear internet.” 

“Oh? Sweet talkin’ the internet now, you sly dog.” 

Laughing, he says, “Alright, update coming once we’re home.”

**Day 21**

“Well fuck.” 

“That’s one way to start the video,” Shane teases. 

Ryan smiles despite everything, “So we’ve been kicked out of the house for a week while the owner has people in to do repairs.” 

“Hey, I offered,” Shane says. 

Ryan chuckles, “Yeah I dunno why she wanted professionals to do it.” 

Shane chucks a pillow at him, missing and landing beside his foot. 

“Ha! Thanks, so we’ll keep you all updated on twitter and facebook. Most likely we’ll be back in the house next weekend, and that’s when the next video in this series will go up.” 

“Chime off if you want Ryan doing lifestyle vids regardless of ghosts. Sort of exactly what we’ve been doing.” 

Ryan swipes up the pillow and throws it back at Shane, a satisfying feathery thwap as it hits him. “See you next week!”

**Day 29**

“We’re back baby!” Ryan exclaims, doing a spin with his phone. “Flam, how you doin’?” 

“Oooh, I’m gonna tell Mimsy you’re cheating on her with a real ghost,” Shane teases. 

“Pff, like I care about a sims ghost.” 

“Woooow,” Shane drags out, his grin widening. “And to think I died at your honeymoon, that you just didn’t care about.” 

“Anyways! The contractors are done fixing the place up, and Shane and I went camera shopping yesterday to replace the basement ones.” 

“Yeah, good thing there’s nothing else on our budget.” 

Ryan laughs before deadpanning, “But actually.” 

“Yeah I’d hate for us to turn to a life of crime to support your ghosthunting habit.” 

“Mhmm, we definitely wouldn’t be caught within like an hour with these vids.” 

Shane shrugs, “I think you’re overestimating how many people are watching live. We’d have at least a three hour start to Canada.” 

“Canada has extradition, we’d have to go further than that.” 

“Whelp, now we’re on a list somewhere. Way to go Ryan.” 

“Fuck oops,” Ryan manages, laughing. 

He’s still laughing as he heads to the library, still laughing as he turns on his laptop. 

It doesn’t turn on.

**Day 30**

Ryan’s having a terrible Tuesday, doesn’t care that he probably looks like a half-mad scientist that needs a shower as he starts the daily video in the basement. 

“Hey everyone. Bad news, the laptop is completely fried- nothing could be recovered, and that footage is gone. Luckily previous days are backed up in the cloud, but that night hadn’t been. So hopefully Flam’s willing to come out and play again, in uh, a less flood-y way.” 

“Have we theorized yet that Flam is in fact Cthulhu and requires watery sacrifice?” Shane chimes in. 

“Shut up Shane.”

Shane mimes zipping his lips shut, which will last five minutes at most.

“Alright, Flam are you here with us?”

He waits a few minutes before trying again, “Did you make the basement flood?” 

_No._

It’s the same deep voice as before- not his- and Ryan squeals, slapping his hand over his mouth. 

Shane raises an eyebrow, and Ryan shakes his head rapidly, can’t, can’t- holy fuck. 

“How about you just mess with me Flamster? Tug on my hair or shirt or entrails.” 

“Christ,” Ryan mutters.

There’s a few moments of emptiness, and Shane claps his shoulder. “See? It’s okay, you’re okay.” 

_No._

Ryan screams.

**Day 31**

Shane wakes up first, takes his phone out for a video very slowly and carefully. Definitely _not_ a live one. 

He grins up at the mirror image of them, Ryan sprawled across his chest and looking too gorgeous. (Not that there’s a time he isn’t excessively gorgeous, but it hits him especially hard in the morning light.) 

“If you’re trying to blackmail me with a cuddling video, you should keep in mind you’re also in it,” Ryan sleepily mutters into his shoulder. 

“Blackmail?” Shane asks, trying and probably failing for an innocent tone. “Never crossed my mind. I thought we should post more early videos.” 

“You wouldn’t,” Ryan says, but is beginning to move like he’s considering getting up.

“I dunno, I feel like this lends a certain authenticity to how afraid you were.” 

“Dick,” Ryan retorts, actually getting up, a wave of cold air where he was. “C’mon,” he says when Shane hasn’t gotten up yet, still lamenting the loss of warmth. “We have time before work, let’s do waffle Wednesday.” 

And oh, that is a stellar idea. His stomach rumbles at the idea, and he ends the vid.

**Day 39**

“Good afternoon boogaras and shaniacs! To celebrate last night’s epic recording-”

“It was a rat!” Shane yells from the kitchen. 

“Yeah, that we never found,” Ryan mutters to the internet. 

“You’re a sore loser!” he yells back before clearing his throat. “Right, I’ll be picking out a new pair of sweet kicks. Well, I already picked them out but I’ve been debating buying them.” 

Ryan swallows, “I uh, do have quite the collection of sneakers-”

“A hoard!” 

Ryan snorts, “Yeah, so spending money on a new pair is… But! There’s a gorgeous pair of Air Jordan XIs, barely used and teal. They’re only a hundred dollars, so like half as much as normal and I deserve them.

“Let’s cut to that glorious ghost footage now.”

**Day 69**

“Happy almost 70th day of ghoul hunting in the Taylor House!” 

“There’s so much to unpack there,” Shane says with a chuckle. 

Ryan pulls on one of the party poppers, confetti going straight to Shane’s face. He wheezes, words struggling to form, “Go for it.” 

“It’s 69th I think we can say that. Really childish not to.” 

“Sure, 69,” Ryan says and Shane claps his hands together. 

“Aha, next ghoul hunting sounds so aggressive. Really we’re ghoul befrienders, we really wanna share a pint with Flem and gossip about the afterlife.” 

“Uh huh.” 

“And we’re counting all the days we weren’t here?” 

Ryan rolls his eyes, “Tune in next time-”

“Ey!”

“Kidding, a few people have commented about that week. I did go through the footage from the first and second floor cameras, and some of that stuff will be in the ending video so, yeah.” 

“Honestly it’ll be incredible if we get to Day 169.” 

“The fuck Shane?” 

He shrugs, “With how often the cameras and equipment has been breaking? We might run out the budget.” 

“Right,” Ryan says. “If any company wants to sponsor us, we are so down for that. Spoiler, stuff might break.” 

“We’ll get your logo tattooed on us,” Shane adds in. 

“We will not do that.” 

“I didn’t say where,” Shane says with a wink.

“…that worries me more. There will be _no_ tattooing.” 

“Or will there?” Shane says with a bigger wink. “Drop us an email.”

**Day 73**

“Guess what internet?” Ryan asks. 

“The boys are officially sponsored!” 

Ryan laughs breathlessly, “I still can’t believe it. One of you lovely boogaras who will remain unnamed, mentioned us to their CMO and bam! Sponsored boys by Gcam.” 

“Gcam, for all your ghoulish adventures,” Shane says. 

“As of today we’re only using Gcam products, besides our phones for livestreams, and we’ll see how they hold up to the supernatural.” 

Shane rolls his eyes, “Or how they hold up to being in a really old house.” 

“Thank you so much, replacing all our equipment was so out of budget-” 

“Even more-so if we kept whipping though it,” Shane adds. 

“Yeah, so seriously thank you. We’re so thrilled to continue this project.” 

“Well thrilled not to be resorting to-” Shane starts, and Ryan elbows him. Shane coughs, “Beyond thrilled, really.” 

“Check them out at the link below, we’ll be posting a long vid tomorrow by their G5 model.”

**Day 74**

“Hey internet! So a few of you were asking for another behind the scenes vid, and we thought it’d be fun to go over the G5 material together.” 

Shane snorts, “And by fun, he means approximately two of you will be remaining after hours of listening to crickets. I will not be one of the two.”

“Shut up Shane. The full length copy we’re working from has been uploaded to our youtube so you all can see and hear the actual quality.” There thankfully is a huge quality jump from what can be heard on the new cameras compared to the old ones. It makes him feel way better about all the talking up Gcam they’re gonna do. It also makes him a little self-conscious in the house, but hell, he’s the one editing everything first. He can edit out any unfortunate noises that make their way on camera. 

“Turn back now, smash that little red ex,” Shane warns their viewers. 

“Jackass. Alright so these are the five hours with the most activity, we’re gonna start at 14:42…”

**Day 81**

“Hey everyone! Tonight’s livestream has been bumped to tomorrow afternoon.” 

“Yeah, the Try Guys are stealing us- go complain to them,” Shane adds in. 

“Apparently a ton of Buzzfeed employees _don’t_ want to get wasted on a random Thursday,” Ryan says. 

“Steven Lim has challenged us to vodka pong, and we’re going to destroy him.” 

Ryan laughs, “Yeah, because the two of us are so great at it.” 

“I’m tall and you were a bro, how could we lose?” 

Ryan shakes his head, smiling. “Can’t imagine; tonight is the first night I’m taking these babies outside.” He points his phone down to his gorgeous teal jordan elevens, “I’m gonna be getting compliments all night.” 

Shane laughs, “I’ll keep a tally of people bringing you drinks.”

“Ey, no fair- you know Steven will do something sneaky to try and get me drunk before we play.” 

Shane rolls his eyes, “Yeah, that’s why all the people bring you drinks. For Steven Lim.” 

His brow furrows, but Shane’s probably just being weird. “Anyways, tomorrow afternoon we’ll see you again. Hopefully without sunglasses.” 

“It might be tomorrow night.” 

“No way, we have work in the day.” 

“Right. Fuck, yeah. Until tomorrow afternoon then.”

**Day 82**

“Afternoon everybody,” Shane starts off, sitting in their basement. “For anyone who saw the Try Guys’ snapchat stories, or Steven’s, you’re probably not surprised Ryan isn’t with me. For anyone who didn’t, the little man is sleeping it off. He had the genius idea to stay awake after the party and yeah- work went really well today. Uh, very productive if our boss is watching.” 

Shane clears his throat, “So yeah, this is gonna be extra boring since it’s me, sorry viewers. Prepare to watch two hours of me sitting in an empty room. Or y’know watch something else.”

“Yup,” Shane says, “killin’ it.” 

(As predicted the next two hours are excruciatingly boring. Usually he gets to at least watch Ryan freak out, but today it’s only him and the laundry machines and the boiler. Yawn. Maybe they should get a pet? No, Ryan’s dogs are with his parents so they don’t interfere with filming, and a cat would definitely knock over some cameras for fun.)

**Day 87**

“Good morning internet! Guess what today is? That’s right! Waffle Wednesday! And because our spirit box session went so well, or Flam answered over half the questions in an intelligible way, Shane’s working away in the kitchen right now. Bwahahaha, let’s go examine the victory waffles.” 

Ryan trots downstairs, excited and craving some delicious maple sugary sweetness. Only once he gets there does the disgusting smell register, bile rising in his throat and Shane’s tossing almost everything from the fridge into a trash bag. 

“The fuck happened?” 

Shane grimaces, “Fridge died last night. Almost everything spoiled.” 

Ryan’s eyes go wide, “Flam’s trying to kill us!” 

Shane laughs softly, “That’d be a very slow and ineffective way to kill us.” 

“Don’t give them ideas!” 

“Sorry,” Shane says, tying the bag off. “I already contacted the owner about it, a new fridge will be here by next Thursday.” 

“But- but Waffle Wednesday!” 

Shane nods seriously, “It’s too late now, but how about we go out to lunch? That little cafe off Main?” 

“Alright,” Ryan relents. “At least the beer is still good.” 

Shane laughs, “Yeah, that’s true.”

**Day 88**

“Takeaway galore,” Ryan says, placing the pizza on the counter next to their calf Trenton. 

“Nice, za!” 

“Fuckin’ scrabble nerd,” Ryan says with a smile. 

“Yup,” Shane agrees. “Let us know if you have any take-out recommendations in the area. This week’s gonna be all take-out and instant ramen.” 

“Yeah, unless you’re Steven Lim.” 

Shane laughs, “We don’t need any stinkin’ gold plated hamburgers.” 

“Gold dust on caviar.” 

“Golden glazed custard.” 

“I’m gonna stop us there because I’m hungry,” Ryan says. He looks at the oven, voice pitched high, “Uh, Shane were you cooking anything?” 

“No, why?” 

“The oven light is on. Why the fuck is the oven light on Flam!” 

“Huh. Maybe we should redo the whole kitchen,” Shane says, getting up to turn it off.

Ryan suspiciously nibbles on a piece of bacon pizza, “Mhmm.”

**Day 115**

“Happy Halloween!” they exclaim together. “As you can see,” Ryan continues, “we decided to dress up as our favorite cryptids.”

“I have big feet,” Shane says from beneath the gorilla suit. Ryan smothers a laugh, can’t help wanting to every time he sees him. Most of the costume fits Shane correctly- up until the feet that had to be cut off because they were too short for his legs, ankles and calves bared to the world.

“Luckily Buzzfeed is pretty chill about costumes,” Ryan says. “And I’m the sexy Mothman.” 

“Oh yeah, look at those abs,” Shane says. 

Ryan’s costume is pretty directly inspired by the statue, and he flexes for the camera, trying to keep a straight face. He’s topless with a pair of gossamer wings, red glowing sunglasses over an insect mask, and tight black leggings. 

It’s definitively the sexiest costume he’s ever worn, and that probably says something about himself. 

“So tomorrow we’ll do something special for all souls’ day that a bunch of you have been asking for.” 

“Mhmm, it’s gonna be juicy,” Shane adds. 

“Er, right. Happy Halloween ghouligans!” 

“Take all the candy from strangers!” Shane squeezes in the moment before he ends the stream.

**Day 116**

“Hey everyone,” Ryan starts, turning his phone to show the entire set up. There’s a circular rug, and in the center are three candles, a glass of red wine, and burning sage. 

“We’ll be doing a seance tonight to try and contact Flam. I’m hoping we get confirmation on if Flam is indeed a Flemming, and if so, which one.” 

“I wanna see Flam drink the wine,” Shane says. “Will it disappear or go through an invisible digestive system and then splatter to the floor?”

Ryan shakes his head, putting the printed wiki how article between them. (Much more professional having a physical copy than using their phones this time, that’s production value increase there.) He extends his hands to the center, outside the candles, “Ready for the chant?” 

Shane nods and takes his hands. A wave of warmth billows over him, and Ryan smiles- yes, tonight Flam will be with them. 

Together they say, “Spirits of the past, move among us. Be guided by the light of this world and visit upon us.” 

They wait a beat of silence, and Ryan nods, and they do the chant again. Again and again and again until Ryan’s shoulders’ droop. He really thought tonight would be different-

“Hey Flam, if you’re not gonna drink the wine tonight how about you blow out the candles?” 

There’s a sudden gust of wind, and Ryan squeezes Shane’s hands tight as the candles go out. 

“Hoooly shit,” Ryan murmurs. 

Shane’s thumbs rub over his wrists, and Ryan already knows he’s gonna hate whatever he says next. “Ry, despite timing it might’ve been the wind.” 

“There’s no openable windows down here!” Ryan exclaims, dropping Shane’s hands and turning his phone’s flashlight app on. Belatedly he remembers they’re still livestreaming. 

“There is an open door though,” Shane says, face eerily lit by the makeshift flashlight.

On cue, the basement door slams shut. 

“Nope! We’re going upstairs, now.” 

Shane doesn’t argue or pick up any of the stuff, following him upstairs. For a split second, Ryan’s positive the basement door is locked- that they’re going to die down here, on fucking camera- and then he twists again and the door pops open. 

The first floor is chilly, and Shane walks over to the front door. “Look, it was only the main door being open. It caused enough wind to blow out the candles and shut the basement door.” 

Ryan shivers looking at the doorway, even more ominous than before. “We’ll be going over the footage very carefully tomorrow, good night internet.”

**Day 119**

“Fuckin’ daylight savings,” Ryan mumbles before realizing he’s already pressed the start button on this afternoon’s livestream. His cheeks burn, “Right, since the seance didn’t have definitive proof either way, we’re gonna do another spirit box tomorrow and see how that goes. Shane took a break from kitchen fixing to redo the front door, and finished it this morning so that’s good.

“Honestly, I don’t know if everything keeps breaking because this is an old house or because it’s haunted.” He offers a wry smile, “Chime off in the comments if you have experience with either, or both.” 

“What else… oh! There’s a new Ruining History episode up, you should all watch that if you haven’t already. Or hey, watch it again- it’s a fun one. Until tomorrow.”

**Day 129**

“Look at me internet! Cooking in our kitchen, it’s like a dream.” 

“Or nightmare if you don’t take that off heat soon,” Shane says. 

“Right,” Ryan says, moving the skillet and handing Shane his phone. 

“So as you can see, Shane finished the kitchen just in time for Thanksgiving.” 

Shane snorts, “Yeah, ‘cause we’re gonna cook a huge feast.” 

“Mhmm, and today we’re having celebratory waffles and bacon and diced fruit.” 

“And Ryan’s gonna lose a finger if he doesn’t pay attention, we’ll see y’all tomorrow.” 

“Ey! I can so multi-” Ryan starts, Shane turning the stream off mid-word.

**Day 137**

Ryan’s pulling cookies out of the oven, blowing on them so he can plate them quickly. 

“See this internet? This is a liar who said he’d be ready by noon ‘at the absolute latest Shane’,” Shane finishes in a falsetto. 

“Fuck you Shane,” Ryan says, cringing as one of the cookies droops when he slides it onto the dish. 

“I’m sure they’ll still taste great.” Shane zooms in on the cookies, “These are apple oatmeal, inspired by the apple taters we made.” 

“Mhmm,” Ryan covers them with plastic wrap. “Are we missing anything?” 

“Nope,” Shane says. “Wanna tell the internet where we’re going?” 

“Eugene’s orphans thanksgiving, with more drinking than either of us can handle.” 

Shane snorts, “Very true. We will not be returning here tonight.” 

“Yup. Don’t have too much fun without us Flam!” 

“Or you Trenton, you rascal!” 

Laughing, they head out to Ryan’s car and the stream ends.

**Day 141**

“-irthday to you!” Shane sings, and Ryan groans. 

The only reason he opens his eyes is the scent of breakfast, and sure enough there’s a tray laden with more food than Shane could possibly cook in their tiny kitchen. 

“Holy shit dude, sit down, thank you,” Ryan says, digging into the mini sausages. There’s something so damn satisfying about miniature foods. 

Shane pulls out a paper party horn from somewhere, blowing it. Ryan winces at the noise, grabbing it and tossing it on Shane’s dresser. 

“No way, I still feel hungover from Eugene’s.” 

Shane laughs, “That’s fair. Is it bad I’m surprised no one went to the hospital?” 

“Nah… Zach’s tiny, I thought it was happening.” 

Shane tsks, “You’re gonna start another feud like that.” 

Ryan huffs out a laugh, “Yeah okay. Zach if you’re watching this, we’d _destroy_ you in a feud.” 

Shane sighs, “We’re running out of room in the garden.” 

“We’re-” Ryan echoes before it hits him. “If anyone goes missing in the area, they’re gonna search the fuck out of this place.” 

Shane shrugs, “Maybe they’ll find Flam.” 

Ryan chucks a pillow at him, hits him square in the face.

**Day 152**

“Happy Friday everybody! I’ve been trying to get Sara and Jen to bring their cat Obi over here, and they finally agreed!” 

“Ahem,” Shane clears his throat. 

“Okay Shane bribed them and we’ll be in some weird videos coming up, but whatever. So as most of you have probably heard, cats are said to be able to sense the supernatural. We wanna see if anything happens once Obi is in the house. We’ve opened up all doors and shut all windows, other than that, we’re gonna let him explore on his own.” 

“This episode is literally going to be the four of us not-talking while Obi begs us each for pets or treats,” Shane says. 

Honestly, Ryan’s a little worried about exactly that happening but he sure as hell isn’t telling Shane that. Sara already told them Obi loves listening to people talk, if they do that he won’t explore the house. So once greetings are over, the four of them sit in the living room silently. 

Obi takes the first half hour to wind around all of them, headbutting their hands. Once he gets bored of that, he walks out and Ryan sets his laptop on the coffee table’s end so they can all see. He goes to the cameras that are closest to Obi, switching from library to stairs to basement, every single hair on his body standing up. 

Obi walks up to the washing machine and puts his paw out a few times. Then he just sits and waits, unease building in Ryan’s gut as the cat sits there. He should be curious about the rest of the house or laying down or something. Instead he’s sitting there, looking as though he’s waiting. 

About forty minutes pass like that, and then Obi’s head tilts and he goes dashing off in the opposite direction. He’s too fast once Ryan switches to the other basement camera, they can hear him running upstairs. Obi runs right to Sara and Jen, dropping a dead mouse between them and looking every inch the proudest cat. 

Ryan’s jaw drops and Shane crashes the silence with laughter, all of them joining in. 

“What- what an excellent house guest. He’s so,” Shane laughs harder as Obi starts eating the mouse, can’t finish his sentence.

**Day 176**

“Monday night new year’s, such great planning,” Ryan says in lieu of a greeting. So yeah, maybe he’s been pre-gaming a bit. And maybe he’s already at Eugene’s orphans new year’s eve party. And maybe he’s drunk enough to be questioning if the whole orphans theme parties are funny-tragic or tragic-tragic. 

Tonight he’s leaning towards tragic-tragic, and that’s not the type of drunk he wants to be. 

Zack shows up then, looking out of a dream. The world seems bright again, there’s still an echo of his last kiss from weeks ago, tingling on his lips. 

“Zack Evans!” Ryan exclaims, jumping up and knocking his phone to the floor. 

“Ryan Bergara!” 

“Dude, I’ve missed you so much. How are you? How’s the new place, do you wanna-” Ryan’s phone falls asleep at this point, automatically ending the livestream.

**Day 198**

“I can’t believe you were gonna ignore this,” Ryan says, turning the stream on. “Morning soon to be all-boogaras! Last night Shane was scratched up.” He pans the phone over the five slim red lines that stretch from his shoulder all the way across to his lower back. 

“I didn’t even notice them in the shower, I probably did it to myself.”

“Mhmm, was there any skin or blood under your fingernails this morning? Not to mention that’s a weird angle.” 

“…no,” Shane says, practically pouting. “But it could have been another rat!” 

“That’s disgusting. And I’m pretty sure the marks would be closer together.” 

Shane rolls around, and it hadn’t really clicked that he was straddling Shane until that moment. “Whatever, fine. Flam if that was really you, carve your name next time won’t you?” 

“Yeah, that’s one for the boogaras,” Ryan manages, scrambling off him and trying to forget a certain warmth between his thighs. There’s only madness that way, he reminds himself and ends the stream.

**Day 209**

“Happy groundhog day internet! I’m so excited spring is coming in soon-”

“So delicate baby, I shudder to think how you’d fare in a real winter.” 

Ryan rolls his eyes, “Yeah, yeah. More importantly the berry boys are coming back next month!” His voice goes wistful, “I’ve been craving that smoothie.” 

“There may even be a new character in the hot daga-”

“Don’t you dare. Don’t ruin Knott’s.” 

Shane grins, “I don’t know what you mean.” 

“I will rip out your kidneys and feed them to you.” 

“As long as you put that sweet berry sauce on top, I’m good.”

Ryan can’t hold in a laugh, and dammit he doesn’t even remember what this afternoon’s video was supposed to be about.

**Day 221**

“Happy valentines! Today we’re gonna do a themed spirit box.” 

Shane snickers, “Because if you had a painful love life you definitely want two twits asking you about it on this grand commercialized holiday.” 

“Shut up Shane. Hey Flam, I’m gonna turn on the box now if you wanna talk.” He flips it on, and in his peripheral Shane cringes. 

“Anyone special you’re missing today?” Ryan asks. 

There’s a jumble of white noise, and then, “-bzt laz-awn-ya.” 

Shane bites down on his fist shaking, and Ryan can’t look at him or he’ll laugh. He clears his throat, “Yeah lasagna’s pretty delicious. Can you tell us your favorite ingredient?” 

“Hapenshopin.” 

“Right. Do you remember your first name?” 

There’s an eerie silence as the spirit box quiets down for a few beats, and then, “Pam.”

Ryan’s stomach twists, Pamela Flemming. The young wife who went missing in ‘38, or maybe she never went missing at all. 

“Nice to formally meet you Pam, is there anything you’d like down here?” Shane asks when Ryan falls silent. 

They get a mix of garbled noises back, and for the rest of the night there are no more distinct answers.

**Day 225**

“Afternoon everyone,” Ryan says, sitting in the library with Shane. “I’ve been doing some more research on Pam, and given her ghost is in this house how it affects certain histories.” 

“Allegedly,” Shane adds in, “luckily the theory Ryan’s about to present doesn’t require Pam being a ghost.” 

“Fuck you,” Ryan says with a soft laugh. “Alright, so in December of 1936 the Flemmings moved into the Taylor House. This was Pamela and Edward, who had married the month before. Over a dozen letters remain from Pamela and her good friend Evelyn Mayfield that were all written in 1936 and 1937, the letters stop in November. They were clearly very close friends-” 

“Possibly lovers,” Shane interjects. 

Ryan nods, “Most likely. While there isn’t any direct proof- which could be due to the time period or Edward perhaps reading Pamela’s mail- there’s very romantic flowery language used throughout.” 

He pauses, and Shane is just looking at him. “Dude the September letter.” 

“Oh right, this is from Evelyn.” Shane clears his throat, putting on his best southern drawl, “ _My gentle friend to the west, does the sun not always set with you? I anticipate the day we meet again most greatly, whether it be in this life or the next. Our souls were borne of the same stars, cannot but tend to one another. My father wishes most ardently to see me wed, but I should sooner revive piracy by my lonesome than be torn from ever seeing you. I send my love and joy with the sun, may it shine all the brighter upon you._ ” 

“I mean, I’d be jealous if I were Edward,” Ryan says. 

Shane laughs, “Yeah. That whole born from the same stars bit? How do you compete with that?”

Ryan grins, “Yeah, so that was the shortest letter. I typed up the others and will add a link in this vid’s bio so you can all read them if you want. Luckily a family member donated the letters Pamela wrote, and they’re in an online archive. So that being said, keep in mind the letters stop in November. Considering how long the post took at this time, they were pretty much constantly writing to one another. In the February to May letters, Pamela is worried that she hasn’t become pregnant, and says it is a strain on her new marriage. 

“In March of ‘38, four months after the letters stop, Pamela was reported missing.”

“Very suspicious.” 

“Very,” Ryan agrees. “So let’s get into the theories. The first is that she ran away from home and met up with Evelyn. If Evelyn _didn’t_ know what was going on, you’d think we’d see a bunch of letters from Evelyn freaking out about Pam not replying.” 

“Unless they burned the letters.” 

“Which, if they’re only burning two or three months of letters, there must have been something special about those letters. Plotting maybe?”

“I can buy that,” Shane says. 

“Either way, in January of 1939 Evelyn became a widow.” 

Shane gasps, “Oh! What a twist.” 

“Yeah, so her husband Harrison died in a hunting accident, which… is a hunting accident _ever_ really a hunting accident?” 

“I read about this gross one in the Darwin Awards-”

“Anyways!” Ryan interjects. “As of 1939, Evelyn was living alone as a widow and wasn’t often seen outside her home. If Pamela was living with her, it makes sense that they’d be hiding out together.” 

“That’s really nice. Why do I have a feeling you’re about to debunk it all?” 

Ryan sighs, “Edward didn’t report any of Pamela’s stuff as missing. If she did run away, it was only with the clothes on her back. No tickets for travel were issued in her name, nor was a second person ever seen or reported as living in Evelyn’s house. It’s still possible just…” 

“Less likely,” Shane says. 

“Yeah. Also… Edward had a second wife, Beatrice. Based on her hospital records, he physically abused her to the point that she couldn’t carry children. It seems plausible he could have abused Pamela in a similar way, and if so may have killed her.”

“Dammit Ryan, the first theory is so much nicer. Fuck Edward.” 

“And if her ghost is here not there…” Ryan sighs. Before they came here he did lots of research on the wealthy Taylor family, and they were pretty blessed. One of the children died from tuberculosis, but other than that they all lived long lives and seemed pretty happy. He thought the ghost would be the kid or maybe mother, not- not like this.

Shane clears his throat, “Well I’ve never been more team Jacob.”

Ryan shakes his head, smiling and then the lights flicker, thunder booming outside.

“And that seems like a timely note to end this,” Shane says. “Later internet!”

**Day 236**

“Day one of March Madness has arrived and I promised Shane I wouldn’t talk about basketball all month, so thank him.” 

Shane laughs, “More like I bribed him with fixing the leaky faucet.” 

“Semantics,” Ryan dismisses. “We’ve had our lovely new Gcams for over five months now.” 

“We only broke one of them!” 

Ryan exhales, “ _You_ ran downstairs with the handheld and tripped, that’s all on you buddy.” 

“And I’m still disappointed I didn’t get you dancing around with the vacuum on camera.” 

Ryan sighs, “Then I would have had to kill you, and there would be no show. Is that what you want Shane?” 

“What? I- no- that’s-”

“Exactly,” Ryan says, patting his shoulder. “Really it was for the best.”

**Day 245**

“-exes can be friends Shane, god.” 

“I know that! I uh, thought you two were still… y’know. Not exes.” 

Ryan rolls his eyes, “He lives too far away now and it’s too early for this, why is daylight savings a thing?” 

Shane brightens, “Well back in 1895 George Hudson-”

“Shut up Shane,” Ryan groans. “Too early for history or- are you filming this?” 

“Huh, I am. Weird. Fuck, your parents know right?” 

Ryan throws a pillow at him, missing wildly, “You’re so lucky they do Madej. I’m going back to sleep.” 

“We’ll come back in a few hours,” Shane pseudo-whispers to the camera. 

“Better be with food,” Ryan says before burrowing beneath the covers. While he’s certainly sleeping better than he did in the very beginning, it only takes a slight rustle from Pamela, and he’s up until daybreak.

**Day 248**

“Howdy internet! Ryan took the evening off to go watch some b-ball with past sports unsolved co-host Zack Evans. Will they discover a brand new conspiracy tonight?” 

Shane pauses for the drama, and then shrugs. “Who cares, it’s sports. I’d say it’s more boring than watching paint dry- but that’s an insult to paint everywhere.” 

“Now while I did promise to listen for spirits, there was no talk of boring myself to sleep. So! In tonight’s thrilling installment, I’ll be reading uninterrupted for a few hours. Get on that ghoul hunting kiddos, we’re basically rockstars,” Shane jokes. 

And sure enough, the next four hours of reading in the basement are completely uninterrupted. (He won’t tell Ryan, but the basement did add some nice ambiance to the historical novel about Alcatraz.)

**Day 251**

“Good morning everyone!” Ryan giddily starts. “Yesterday’s adventure at Disney was a blast, and the berry boys are back today in a double park feature weekend! To make up for yesterday and today, I’ve linked the most compelling soundbites of the Taylor House below- and of course, Shane’s scratches. Tomorrow night we’re gonna try the seance again, now that we know Pamela’s full name, I think we’ll have better luck. See you all then!” 

“Woo-hoo, giant hot dogs and berry treats!” Shane calls out as Ryan ends the stream.

**Day 267**

“This merry April fools, I have a special present for the one who commissioned and starred in the hot daga- honestly, without him it would have never continued. Let’s see how much Ryan loves it!” 

Shane hits play, Ryan’s patchy singing coming through, the Lady and the Tramp song below it. 

_Tonight, what a night,_  
What a glorious night to fall in love and mischief  
Tonight, what a night,  
What a glorious night to give up on ghosts and superstitions 

_Ghosts aren’t real,  
ghosts aren’t really in existence-_

Ryan, moving with more speed than a recently sleeping person should have, tackles Shane to the bed, and hits stop. 

“I can’t believe you edited my voice to say that-”

“What editing?” Shane laughs below him.

And Ryan attacks his stomach, tickling him until the phone clatters to the ground.

**Day 288**

“Happy day after Easter baby!” Shane greets the internet as Ryan props up the two gigantic milk chocolate rabbits. 

“The best holiday of them all, this is literally more chocolate than we can eat before next year.” 

Shane snorts, “Yeah, doubt that. But yay for discount chocolate!” 

“Since the only word we got from Pamela’s last seance was chocolate, we’re gonna try again tonight with some,” Ryan says. 

“Yeah, we’re gonna wine and dine the fuck outta this ghost. And who wouldn’t want a rabbit head?” 

Ryan snorts, “Dude, we are not giving her the head. That’s like threatening.” 

Shane slowly raises an eyebrow, “A chocolate rabbit head is threatening?” 

“Maybe she was decapitated! We don’t know!” 

Shane whistles, and Ryan can feel his cheeks burning. “So is a smashed up one better or worse?” 

Ryan thinks for a moment, “…I’m not sure.” 

The seance set up is the same as usual- and how out there is it that it feels normal now- only with a slab of non-identifiable chocolate next to the wine. 

“Hey Pamela, we brought you some chocolate,” Ryan starts. “I hope you can interact with us tonight.” 

_No._

Ryan shrieks, only Shane’s tight grip keeping him from getting up. He’d almost forgotten the voice, but it’s the same as ever, and only distantly does he realize Shane is talking to Pamela. 

“Pam, Pammy girl, whatever you’re doing to Ryan, please stop. His little heart can’t take it, hell my-” 

Ryan can’t help the laugh that bubbles up, no matter how much he wants to hear Shane’s next words. “Sh-Shaniacs lose forever. Where is your god now? Ahaa, I’ve never heard you so sincere with a spirit.” 

“Listen here you little whipper snapper,” Shane says, but his hands relax around Ryan’s, a soft smile on his lips. And _oh_ Ryan should have noticed sooner-

“You wanna continue or no?” Shane asks, nodding to the candles that burn low. 

Ryan swallows, remembers the voice and he knows he should- but he doesn’t want to push her. Already got his answer for tonight. 

“Nah, we’ll try again tomorrow. Maybe with the spirit box,” he adds to tease Shane. 

Shane sighs dramatically, “Oh the things I do for my cohost.” 

And laughing softly, Ryan blows out the candles and ends the stream.

**Day 301**

“Whaddup internet we are druuuunk,” Ryan slurs. Eugene’s orphan Cinco de Mayo party is precisely the amount of decadence and alcohol that he expected from the event- and he’s loving it. Usually he avoids the day all together, had never really experienced the Americanized version until his freshman year of college and that was a fucking mistake. He can still remember all the horrible racist shit Todd said, wishes he could go back to that moment and argue more coherently- or at least punch him in the face. 

This isn’t like the commercialized holiday though. Buzzfeed did a month lead up of vids about Mexican history and culture- his Dad even agreeing to be in the one about what it means to raise a Mexican-American child. He still has mixed feelings at best about the holiday, but he likes their small gathering of friends and coworkers. It feels more like a wrap party than anything else, the series videos playing on an endless loop, projected on a whole wall. (Ryan can’t join the people watching, is in a few of the vids and that’s a certain level of drunk narcissism he doesn’t wanna indulge in tonight.)

He feels so floaty and happy and silly for completely forgetting today’s video. He’s sitting on the couch, Eugene beside him, a column of heat. 

“And I am so sorry-”

“He won’t shut up about it,” Eugene says, voice flat. 

“God you’re pretty,” Ryan breathes, petting his face. Eugene is completely still, and Ryan’s eyes go wide. “Shit sorry, um anyways internet we’ll be with Pamela longer tomorrow. Good night hooligan ghouligans!” 

He turns to Eugene, earnest, “I didn’t mean that in like a you don’t know you’re beautiful kinda way. That’s the worst. You so do, and that’s great! You’re great! I’m making it worse aren’t I? Why am I so bad at talking to people?” 

Eugene sighs, takes the phone from him. “First thing, internet off.”

**Day 308**

“Hey everybody! I hope your Sunday’s going well,” Ryan says. 

Shane walks by to the library, wishing his mother a happy day. 

“Make sure you wish your mom a happy mother’s day,” Ryan says, wincing after. “For the mothered I mean. I said something to an acquaintance earlier and their mom is- anyways. If it applies, call your mom.

“This past week there’s been a ton of activity, and while Shane is an unrepentant skeptic, I know some of you are more reasonable open-minded people. In the description is a link to the top five supernatural happenings from this week. Pamela really misses her girlfriend.” 

He sighs thinking back to it; it was the first ghostly experience that left him sad rather than afraid or worried. He spent an afternoon in the basement, reading the letters Evelyn wrote aloud, the house making soft noises the whole time as if it were weeping. Not crying or sobbing, but soft tears of remembrance and loss. 

Ryan wipes his face, forcing a smile. “So yeah, go check that out and come back tomorrow night for us trying to use mirrors to communicate more clearly with Pamela.”

**Day 312**

Shane’s birthday gift is supposed to be just for him, but he’s looking so excited and holding his phone up that Ryan relents. 

He licks his lips, readjusts the guitar and says, “Anyways, here’s Wonderwall.” 

He starts strumming, and Shane’s face is absolute joy, his mouth and eyes wide open, looking more cartoon character than person. Ryan can’t keep looking at him without losing his focus- and how embarrassing would that be to fuck up the easiest song ever- eyes falling shut as he sings. 

He gets lost in it, he wasn’t kidding about the therapeutic aspect of music, only coming back to the present when the song’s over.

“Marry me.” 

“Can- what?” 

Shane nods seriously, “You gave me, made me, a meme Ryan. It only goes downhill from here.” 

“Happy birthday you fricken’ dork.”

**Day 319**

“Afternoon ghost seekers,” Shane says, waving to his phone, before turning to to Ryan. “Unfortunately my shorter half is sick-”

“Ugh, you better not be posting this,” Ryan groans from under the covers. 

“-but I come bearing soup! Not just any soup, the elusive Mrs. Bergara’s baby is sick recipe.”

The top of Ryan’s head and eyes peek out, “No way my mom gave you that recipe- and you can’t be here to advantage me.” 

Shane swallows down a laugh, and places the tray on his lap. “Ryan Bergara folks, thinking _very_ highly of his appeal after sniffling the night away.” 

His cheeks darken, and he sits up fully to eat the soup. “That’s not- I meant like to say something wrong about ghosts.” 

“Like what?” 

“That they don’t-” Ryan stops suddenly, glaring, “you bastard. You know my head is fuzzy!” 

Shane’s tempted to pat said head, Ryan looks like an adorable angry kitten with his hair sticking up, but he values their recording equipment too much. Instead he turns the camera back to himself, “Tune back in tonight for Shane’s windy reading corner.”

**Day 343**

“Happy father’s day everyone! My parents are on vacation this week, so today I’m gonna learn how to make my Dad’s favorite lunch and surprise him when they return.” 

“The most surprising thing will be Ryan cooking at all,” Shane adds in. 

Ryan throws a bit of flour at Shane- the ingredient isn’t even needed for this recipe, it’s on the counter strictly for throwing purposes. 

“I’ll be attempting a roasted corn chowder, and we’ll see if Pamela joins us. Last time we were cooking, she played with the windows a lot-”

“One day, I’m gonna make you sit through a physics lecture,” Shane says. 

“-you’re right, we should cut to that footage here so the viewers can decide how convincing it is,” Ryan says, and Shane rolls his eyes. 

“When we get back, will Ryan have burnt the house down? Will Pamela suddenly appear as a full apparition? Will Ryan wake up and realize it was all a dream and the Taylor House isn’t real? Find out after the break.” 

Ryan sighs, “I really hate that I associate episode ending questions with the hot daga now.” 

Shane cackles, “We got ‘im!”

**Day 361**

“Look how clean our house is!” Ryan exclaims, spinning the camera around. “We’ve been living here for almost a year now, and this is cleaner than it’s ever been. We’re gonna ruin that this afternoon with our fourth of July party, woo-hoo!” 

“Yup, there’s gonna be grilling outside, spooky walks inside, and we’ll see if anyone observes Pam. We’ve invited our friends and a ton of our coworkers to this little shindig.”

Ryan laughs maniacally, “If only there was a nearby church to burn down…” 

“Golly, I knew we forgot to pick something up while shopping- caskets, one child sized.” 

“We do have bleach,” Ryan offers. 

“Alright, we should end the bit before the guys are afraid to come to our party.” 

Ryan nods seriously, “And that would really ruin certain celebrations.” 

“Dammit Ryan,” Shane says with a laugh. 

He can’t help grinning, “Whatever, if anyone’s afraid just remember we failed killing the try guys for like four hours in the sims. So I can’t imagine we’d do better in the real world.” 

Shane laughs harder, “We tried so much.”

“We have three hours until the party starts, and we need to redo this whole video.” 

Shane strokes his awkward is it a shadow or is it a beard (spoiler: it’s an abomination on his face), saying, “Does it look more or less suspicious if we don’t release the footage?” 

“Fine, bonus content for next week? When they’re very much alive.” 

“Yeah alright, from the top?”

**Day 421**

“Hey internet! Shane’s off doing a video with Garrett, the other office giant. Which means he can’t mess up my ranking! Welcome to the top five spookiest moments in the Taylor House- so far. Dun, dun, duuuun.” 

“Coming in hot in fifth place, the creepiest thing by far that unfortunately does not have any proof. This is something I haven’t really been talking about because I know how it sounds, okay skeptics? You don’t need to be a dick in the comments about this one.

“There’s four instances total, on day three, two on day thirty, and day two hundred and eighty-eight. On each of these days, something’s said and in my head I hear this really low pitched ‘no’. It isn’t anything like my inner voice, and it doesn’t feel like it’s from me. You can find the point in each vid pretty easily because I freak out, let’s look at the first one.” 

“Day three Ryan is here, oh look at me thinking Shane made a noise. Going for the down-to-earth explanation and bam! Shut down.”

Day three Shane is thundering down the steps fast, his past self not even blinking at the noise. And Ryan’s cheeks warm as he watches Shane rush over to him, and yeah definitely time for the next subject. 

“Alright in fourth place, the one we’ve gotten the most comments about, from day nine’s missing footage. As you may recall, Shane stole the last cookie and wouldn’t own up to it. When checking on the footage we discovered every camera on the first floor glitched at the same time.” 

Ryan chuckles, “So not much to see there, but here’s the clip of me watching the feed go dark.” 

He turns to the camera with a grin, “I know, this is the thrilling content that keeps you guys coming back. Subscribe now.” 

“In third place, day three hundred and seven. Shane and I sat in the basement, reading all the letters that survived in chronological order. While the house had been quiet before the reading, during and after there were doors opening and shutting softly, curtains moving, and a really sad energy in the house.”

His laptop’s playing that night now, and he can’t pay attention or he’ll start crying. It was a miracle he didn’t break out in sobs that night, but thinking about Pamela’s reaction now and hearing the letters is too much. 

Ryan clears his throat when the clip ends, pulling up a new tab on his laptop. “So this next one is a photo since you can see the damage better. In second place, Shane’s scratches.”

They look more sinister in the photo, the red appearing brighter and cuts deeper. Honestly, if he didn’t know better, he’d think it was shopped. And Shane definitely dodged an infection bullet. 

“I think we can all agree human or supernatural on this,” Ryan starts. “The marks are too spread out for an animal. Shane thinks he did this to himself.” 

Ryan takes a breath, “Given how long the scratches are and that he didn’t wake up from getting them, I don’t buy it. I think anyone but the most hard headed shaniac,” he says with a grin, “would find these scratches suspicious to the point of second-guessing their beliefs.” 

Ryan starts a drum roll on his lap, “And the most compelling piece of evidence for ghosts is… Pam’s identity! Not only did she give us her name through the spirit box, she’s reacted to us talking about Evelyn and reading Evelyn’s letters. If you’re willing to believe in ghosts, there’s no question that this is Pamela Flemming.

“And as a person living here, that’s really comforting. Pamela might have uh, difficulties communicating with us sometimes but she isn’t trying to chase us out of the house. I thought living in a haunted house would be no sleep, the house itself seeming to attack us, and terrible things happening all the time. But living with Pamela has been pretty solid. To the next hundred and whatever days, peace out ghouligans.”

**Day 480**

“Happy Halloween internet!” 

Shane cackles, “As you can see I won our little bet, and I get to be the lovely, the terrifying, catlike Yzma tonight.” 

“Kronk.” Ryan shrugs, “But hey I can talk to squirrels. Squeak squeaken to our squirrel followers out there.” 

“And pull levers,” Shane chimes in. 

“Yes someone insisted on their lab outfits.” 

Shane grins wide, “All night long those levers are gettin’ pulled baby!” 

“There will be so much drinking,” Ryan deadpans. “Tune in tomorrow night for our last seance in the Taylor House.” 

“You said that about the last one.” 

Ryan grins, “Ah-ah I said the last non-relevant holiday seance. Tomorrow is all souls’ day.” 

Shane groans, “I want to be proud of you for being all conniving with semantics, and yet.” 

Ryan’s laughing as he ends the stream, ready to stuff himself with beer and candy.

**Day 481**

Shane doesn’t even pretend to look at the seance chant anymore, and Ryan probably shouldn’t feel so proud that they’ve completely nailed the wiki how seance. 

But he is. 

There’s a small pile of offerings tonight: printouts of the letters, chocolate, wine, and a wildflower Shane snagged from their backyard. Enough stuff that the average person could guess they’re trying to talk to a ghost.

“Tonight we seek Evelyn, to travel to this very spot where Pamela resides.” 

Shane’s eyes go wide, and sue him- so he wanted to see Shane’s surprised expression. Not that Shane actually thinks anything will happen, but Ryan wouldn’t be adverse to ghost banging. Not like in a creepy voyeuristic way- though doubtless that would make for excellent proof- but more because he wants Pamela to be happy again. And maybe reuniting their spirits will do that. 

They chant, and chant, and then suddenly a gust of wind seems to circle the basement, circling twice before the candles go out. 

“Hmm, I can go check on the front door?” Shane says. 

Ryan sighs, getting up, “The candles are out, it’s over.” 

Shane’s eyebrows climb higher, “We can’t relight the candles?” 

“No- well, we could- but I mean the ceremony, the ritual of it has ended.”

“What do you wanna do?” 

“Let’s go upstairs, I need to think for a bit.” 

Shane doesn’t even make a shitty thinking joke, and ugh, Ryan didn’t want pity.

**Day 483**

“It’s been a quiet few days internet. Ever since we tried to summon Evelyn, the house is quieter than before, resigned maybe.” Ryan takes his snapback off to run his fingers through his hair before putting it back on. “I dunno. Maybe Pamela’s mad at us for interfering? I dunno, we’ll try a spirit box session tonight, see if she responds.”

**Day 491**

There’s a shriek, and Ryan sits up, automatically opening his phone. 

Shane groans, warily looking over at his alarm clock and then at Ryan. “It’s like two in the morning.” 

“Did you hear that?” 

“The owl?” 

Ryan shakes his head, “You were asleep, you misheard. Definitely spiritual. Maybe Pamela’s back?” 

“She sounds thrilled,” Shane says, and logically Ryan knows he’s joking, but the idea of them essentially creating a vengeful spirit makes him want to be sick. 

“Fuck, c’mere I’m tired,” he adds, lifting the blanket and patting the space beside him. 

“You want to cuddle?” Ryan asks, all teasing delight. 

“I want to sleep. Tonight preferably.” 

“Okay, okay,” Ryan says, switching beds. Shane glomps around him immediately, huge warm arms encasing him. 

His nose tickles his ear as he nuzzles in to murmur, “We’re cutting all this footage. How about we-” 

Ryan’s ears burn, and he hastily interrupts, “Live! This is uh live, remember at any suspicious noises we livestream for the best chance of catching another in-time.” 

“…right. Hey there internet,” Shane says. 

“I’m gonna shut that off now,” Ryan mutters.

**Day 500**

“Waffle Wednesday baby!” Shane says. “Ryan’s cooking today,” he pauses to point the camera at him. “Now last time when I wasn’t here, Ryan did a top five supernatural moments.” 

“Oh don’t you dare,” Ryan says, reaching for the flour. 

“Not to worry,” Shane continues loudly, talking with his hands. “I’m not going to retcon that. Instead for the shaniacs in all of us, I present the top five ‘I can’t believe you blamed the spirit in our basement’ moments.” 

“How dare you use the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter title in such a way. _How dare you_.” 

“In fifth place-”

“Wait,” Ryan interrupts, “you’re not gonna pull up clips?” 

Shane rolls his eyes, “This is a cute segment Ryan. I trust the internet to hunt down whatever moments they want to see.” 

Ryan smirks, pointing the whisk at him, “You are not prepared.” 

“So I made the list on my phone while you were taking forever to pick out groceries, whatever.” 

Ryan snorts, “Yeah and I’m sure the quality will shine through.” 

Shane clears his throat, “In fifth place, sometime in August-”

“Ohmygod, you don’t even know the day?” Ryan laughs, hands shaking as he pours in the batter. 

“-of this year, Ryan blamed his laundry not being dry on Pamela.” 

“That was a joke!” 

“Uh huh. Item four, last year in the fall I think, the toaster doesn’t turn on. Ryan swears up and down the ghost is causing it to malfunction. I discover the toaster wasn’t plugged in.” 

“I’m taking the first waffle,” Ryan says, flipping the waffle. “It’s gonna be so delicious.” 

“December, last year, there’s an unexpected present-”

“Oh fuck you,” Ryan says, glaring at his empty plate. 

Shane pauses, the reasoning kicking in rather late. “Er- I can skip this one?” 

Ryan sighs, “Whatever I’ll do it. There was an unexpected holiday gift that I momentarily thought Pamela gave me. It led me to some rather erroneous conclusions.” 

Said conclusions involved a ghost propositioning him via sex toy, but if Ryan isn’t willing to talk about that part, Shane won’t. 

Instead he says, “Really got him in the holiday spirit.” 

“Get out.” 

Shane chuckles, and Ryan puts the first done waffle on his own plate. He does start a second one though, which is more than Shane expected given the bit. 

“In second place, I was jerking off-”

Ryan drops his fork, “You _want_ to tell this story?” 

“Whatever like anyone didn’t assume I probably slap the monkey. There’s your confirmation internet. So I’m having some me time in the shower, and everything’s great. Now I had forgotten we recently got those impressive Gcams, and a few hours later Ryan’s yelling about how he caught a ghostly groan.” 

“Hey, you believed it until you saw the time stamp.” 

“I humored you but never said it was a non-natural phenomenon.” 

Ryan shakes his head, “I’d say look at the footage, but we obviously didn’t upload that.” 

“Can you imagine?” His voice drops dramatically, “Ghostly encounters of the forbidden and mysterious kind.” 

“Gcam, even better than you hoped at recording everything. And we mean _everything_ ,” Ryan says. 

Shane laughs, “Yeah, gotta support the brand.” 

“Seriously though, they’ve made ghoul discovery so much easier. A lot of the sounds are crisper, like when Pamela told us her name- I don’t think our old recording equipment would have captured that clearly enough to understand.” 

“Mhmm, drum roll please.” 

Ryan obliges, fork and knife clinking against his plate. 

“And in first place, the time Ryan blamed the ghost for killing our wifi! Woo-hoo, let’s shop in some confetti canons there.” 

Ryan gives Shane the second waffle, “Yeah, that one’s on me. I completely missed paying our bill and yeah.” 

Shane grins, “That’s all we needed to hear. With that, the ghoul boys will return this evening for some evp.”

**Day 506**

“I know what you’re thinking internet, how do I open that closed tab again?” Shane chuckles, “No, you’re filled with joy that you got two whole Shane pov vids this week. I got Ryan a very exciting birthday gift, and I can’t wait to see the joy on his little face.” 

He sneaks back in their bedroom, placing the gigantic Paddington Bear plushie on top of Ryan. 

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEARGARA!” Shane screams, and Ryan jumps up, headbutting the toy. 

“Dude what the fuck are- holy shit!” A giddy smile takes over his face as it hits him, “How did you find this? This Paddington is larger than a child. This is awesome!” 

“You should stand up, he might be taller than you,” Shane says. 

“Ha-ha, very funny.” Ryan gets up anyways, and the bear is a little over half his size. “This is incredible.” 

He ignores the bear for a moment to hug him, “Thank you so much.” 

And then Ryan has that look in his eye, and Shane ends the livestream.

**Day 507**

“Hey guys, sorry about the super early vid, we’re traveling for thanksgiving. We did an early morning evp that Shane should have up really soon.” 

Ryan sighs, “There wasn’t much. I’m hoping we get something else big for the last few months we’re here but… yeah. Alright, we’re taking the holiday off- I will post any interesting sounds or movements that the house cameras catch.”

**Day 534**

“Morning internet! Look at how decorated the Taylor House is,” Ryan says, spinning around. 

“It’s extra decorated because we’ve agreed to do something many of you requested.” 

“Ever since those stupid videos resurfaced,” Ryan mutters. 

Shane hits play before Ryan can fully consider if running away has any lasting ramifications, Christmas Time is Here pouring out of the speakers. He is wearing his teal jordans, could certainly escape without being caught. 

Shane lipsyncs the first bit dramatically walking over to their tree, and with a last prayer that Pamela’s full apparition will appear soon, he joins him. 

They end up singing and dancing around all the decorations, and Ryan forgets why he was so against the idea anyways. They even make it to their bedroom, and Ryan spins around with Paddington. This time feels like the most magical holiday season ever.

**Day 541**

“Hey internet!” Ryan yells. “We’re at Eugene’s orphans new years, and wow is it loud here! Ha, who knows if you can hear me.” 

Shane comes back then with two glasses of champagne. “Thanks baby. Which brings us to our new years surprise! Er, not surprise for a bunch of you but whatever.”

“Mhmm,” Shane wraps an arm around Ryan’s waist. “We’ve been dating the whole time.” 

Ryan laughs, “Shut up, no we’ve been dating since Halloween.” 

The ten second countdown starts in the background, and Ryan still can’t believe this moment is real. Is so full of happiness and warmth, and he wants to feel like this as long as he can. Doesn’t want Shane to ever leave, and seconds before the ball drops his thoughts aren’t supposed to be so heavy. 

A loud cheer breaks out, and Ryan grabs Shane’s neck, yanking him down to kiss him. 

(This time, when he drops his phone it breaks. But honestly, he can’t bring himself to care right now.)

**Day 548**

“Today is our last day recording with hopes of communication in the house. We’ve been starting to pack up, and all the equipment needs to go so we can get to the rest.”

“We’re going classics baby,” Shane says. 

“Yeah, question and answer stuff. Since we were living here, I asked Shane not to ask anything too absurd before. But now that we’re leaving, hey, everything’s fair game. Unless you want to talk to us now Pamela?” 

There’s a beat of silence, and Ryan tries not to feel disappointed. “Right,” Ryan says, gesturing with his hand, “proceed.” 

“Pamela Flemming… if that’s even your real name. We’ve been here for a year and a half, and not once has something definitively spooky happened.” 

Shane pauses for possible feedback before continuing, “A terrible hostess, but I’ll give you one last shot. How about you ruffle my hair or slap me around or rip off my thumbs?” 

There’s an empty moment where Ryan can’t help but be worried his boyfriend’s about to no longer have opposable digits. 

“No?” Shane shrugs turning to him. “Whelp, that’s it. I think we should have the house destroyed. The only question left is bulldozing or fire?” 

Ryan thought he couldn’t feel worse, but it really hits him that Pam isn’t here. Can’t be- no ghost would stand for their haunting place being destroyed. Disappointment socks him in the stomach, and his throat feels scratchy. 

“Finish without me. I need some air,” he says, leaving before Shane can stop him.

**Day 549**

“Hey internet! Quick vid today while my giant idiot is renting us a moving truck. We’re moving all our stuff out today, and then tomorrow it’s only us and sleepover stuff to leave. 

“It’s been an incredible project, actually living in a haunted house. While Shane claims his mind hasn’t changed at all, I think some of you at home may be willing to admit ghosts are real. While we didn’t get a lightning in a bottle moment, we did get a bunch of thunder in a bottle moments. 

“I want to take this moment to thank all of you for watching. We couldn’t have gotten here without you, and it means so much to me- to us- that you’re still here.”

A horn blows loudly, Shane in the driveway, making him chuckle. “That’s one way to wrap the scene, we’ll see you tomorrow for the final installment.”

**Day 550**

The first few minutes of their last video is Ryan walking through the empty house, they’ll drain the color before posting, really nail the spooky-sad-relieved-soon-to-be-nostalgic feeling.

Somehow, Ryan ends up interviewing Shane in the empty living room- their light source going as the sun sets. (‘Just turn the damn lights on Ryan.’ ‘Ambiance!’ To which of course Shane winked and asked if they were filming a sex tape- thank god today isn’t live.)

“So how’d you feel about the Taylor House?” 

Shane nods, “The good ol’ house. Honestly, I loved it. Definitely a fixer-upper, but after the first few months, it really became our first home. As the gold flaked boys would say, worth it!” 

“And Pamela?”

Shane takes off his glasses, fiddling with them before putting them back on. “I want to believe, I do. And not only because I’m dating the sexiest ghost hunter-”

“You dork, we are so cutting that.” 

Shane laughs, “But really, I want to feel something- I want to believe. I just need more.” 

“What would have done it for you?” Ryan asks. 

Shane thinks for a moment, “Assuming the ghost was indeed Pam, maybe her writing Evelyn’s name on a fogged mirror or burning our copies of the letters. Something clearly unnatural, with no other explanation, and tied to her identity.” 

“Or her leading us to her skeleton?” 

Shane snorts, “Yeah, that’d do it.” 

“Anything else you wanna say?” 

A grin takes over Shane’s face, and Ryan knows he isn’t going to like what comes next. “I think we should end this video with a montage of all the times you freaked out in the Taylor House.” 

Ryan sighs, hates that the film maker in him agrees it would be an amusing ending bit. “You are so frickin’ lucky I already love you.” 

Shane comes closer, pushes the camera away, “I know.”

**Author's Note:**

> ghoulwheeze, i hope you enjoyed the ghouls and wheezing \o/
> 
> for the believers, the boys were successful in summoning evelyn and when pamela and evelyn reunited, they moved on together, and the taylor house is no longer haunted
> 
> for the skeptics, pretty much everything can be chalked up to old house noises, maintenance issues, etc. shane's scratches were from a hookup the night before that he hadn't noticed previously & the reoccurring voice was essentially ryan believing the house to be haunted & being pretty suggestible, his mind provided evidence for himself


End file.
